Sibling Models and Data in Economics: Beginnings of a Survey

Abstract

This paper reviews a number of recent studies of the income schooling-ability nexus using sibling data and discusses the problem of identification in such studies. Special emphasis is placed on the role of errors in variables, concluding that modest error levels can account for much of the observed difference between total and within-family estimates of returns to schooling. It also suggests that the family may not contribute as much to the transmission of inequality as is commonly thought, since it is a force for equality within (among siblings).